The Circuit Philly and SJTCA #19
If you thought the week between groups and MoCs would be quiet, think again! At least Lawrenceville, Hightstown, and Allentown were in action, and their athletes produced some great performances you shouldn’t miss.
The Circuit Philly
This winter, RunnerSpace and Trials of Miles introduced a new indoor track series called The Circuit. After stops in Chicago, New York, and Boston, the final leg on this inaugural tour was Saturday at the Ott Center in Philadelphia. The meet series is open to the public and it’s designed for fast times, with nice facilities, pacer support, and co-ed sections organized by goal time. Lawrenceville made the trip this year and took advantage of those fast conditions! Full results here.
Blair Bartlett continues to drop absolutely stunning performances this winter. If her 10:29.59 3200m to win prep states wasn’t impressive enough, she just ran 10:18.54 for a full two-mile! The sophomore attacked this race from the gun, going out in 2:27 for 818m and 5:04 for 1618m. The sophomore then settled into a very consistent pace of 39 seconds per lap before kicking it in with a 37.0 final 200m.
10:18.54 is phenomenal. To put it in perspective, that would put Bartlett at #3 all-time on the New Jersey indoor 3200m/two-mile list! (She even beat the Mercer County record, held by Lawrenceville’s Charlotte Bednar from 2021, by a narrow 0.02 seconds.) Granted, this was in a co-ed race – Bartlett had a boy running a few seconds ahead of her every step of the way – so it may not be record eligible. Still, this was undeniably a superb performance that should signal to the rest of the state that they’ve got a superstar on their hands.
Lawrenceville’s sprinters and mid-distance runners also had a great showing at The Circuit. Here are some highlights:
Sofia Swindell placed 4th in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.76, and she also got 8th in the 200m with a 24.46.
Corey Woodson qualified for New Balance Nationals in the 60m hurdles with a PR of 8.41, which was the top mark in the prelims.
MIchael Bradley took 6th in the 60m finals with a 7.01. He also ran a 6.96 in the prelims. That’s very quick, equivalent to something like a 6.52 in the 55m.
In the 400m, Rhianna Scott set an indoor PR of 57.98 to finish 12th place. She and Swindell are the only Mercer County girls to go under 58 this season. Yasmin Willie ran a season’s best of 1:01.57, which is #9 in Mercer County. (Also, I didn’t cover this last week, but Jael Gaines ran a season’s best of 58.57 for 6th at the Garden State Open on February 21.)
Ayodele Joa-Griffith got 8th place in the 800m and lowered his county-leading time to 1:56.14, which beats even his outdoor PR. Arunav Sarkar also ran a season’s best of 2:00.95, making him just the third Mercer County boy to go under 2:01 this winter.
SJTCA #19
Speaking of meet series, the SJCTA meets keep on coming, even through championship season! SJTCA #19 was on Tuesday at the Bubble. Hightstown and Allentown both made the trip for this meet, which was a nice season finale for most of their athletes. Below are some of the highlights. Full results here.
Girls Results
Aijah Somerselle (Hightstown) dominated the competition in the 55m, running 7.37 to win by almost 0.25 seconds. That’s just 0.01 off her PR. Her teammate Jenna Ntori set a PR of 7.81 for 5th place.
Somerselle doubled back from her win in the 55m to almost get the win in the 200m – she finished 2nd place, just 0.01 behind Willingboro’s Maya Bolden. Somerselle’s time of 26.22 was her second-fastest ever.
In the 55mH, Rachel Shumsky (Hightstown) placed 4th in 9.67, which tied her PR exactly.
The Allentown distance girls (Emilia Wroblewski, Daria Wroblewski, Madeline Ruchelman, and Emma Ruchelman) took the win in the 4x800m with a season’s best of 10:47.26.
Amanda Hoglund (Allentown) was runner-up in the high jump with a clearance of 4-11.
Boys Results
Terrance Williams (Hightstown) ran a 6.67 to win the 55m dash at SJTCA #19 by 4 thousandths of a second! He edged out Christopher Scott (Willingboro), who is #19 in New Jersey this winter.
Just three days after PR’ing in both the 55m and 400m at the Group 2 Championships, Gavin Alvarez (Allentown) added another PR – this time in the 200m, where he ran 22.98 to dip under 23 indoors for the first time! He took 2nd place after Kamari Brown (Deptford) barely outleaned him by 0.01. There’s no doubt Alvarez is in fantastic shape heading into the Meet of Champions, where he’ll run the 400m.
HIghtstown’s Williams also ran a fantastic 200m race in the prior heat, dominating in 23.24 – a PR by more than 0.6 – to win his heat and take 3rd place overall.
Senior Adisa Stewart (Hightstown) claimed the first win of his career after taking the victory with a great race in the 800m! His 2:06.68 was a PR by almost four seconds, and it moved up up to #16 in Mercer County this winter.
Burke Thompson (Hightstown) has really excelled at the 1600m this season. He won the 1600m on Tuesday with a fast time of 4:27.27, essentially tying his indoor PR. He’s now run 4:27 twice in three days! His teammate Mateo Abad-Delgado, who has run some great 3200’s in the past month, dropped back down to the 1600m and took 6th place in 4:47.20, slicing almost two seconds off his PR.
The Allentown boys (Luke Alessi, Ethan Urig, Amrit Moehringer, John O’Leary) matched their girls team by winning the 4x800m with a season’s best time of 8:54.86.
Ocean Breeze Elite Invitational
One other result worth knowing about comes from Saturday’s Ocean Breeze Elite Invitational, where Hun’s Anna Casciano won the shot put by a foot with a throw of 40-2.75. That’s her second-longest throw ever. Breaking 40’ is not easy — only 14 girls from New Jersey have done it this year — but the junior Casciano has now done it in three straight meets.